National Novel Writing Month Starting this Saturday!

It's almost National Novel Writing Month again (or NaNoWriMo as it's affectionately known.) Despite being more overwhelmed in my personal life than ever before, I'm tempting fate (and major burnout) by participating again this year.

I don't actually care if I reach 50,000 words or not, so that may be part of the reason I'm going for it again this year despite a complete lack of time. I guess that's a bad attitude for NaNoWriMo, but it's the best I can do right now.

So if I don't care, why bother at all you may ask. Fair enough. Well, I've learned enough in the last two NaNos that I've participated in that there is lot I can learn, both about writing, and about myself, even if I don't hit that 50,000 word mark. It's good to push yourself in pursuit of something wonderful and creative that will very likely never amount to anything at all just to see if you can. Or rather if I can.

Again, my novel will be Sci-Fi. I had a dream last year during NaNoWriMo that I thought would make a great story. I wrote a summary of the dream in a notebook because it was complex and I didn't want to forget an important detail. Well, I lost that notebook. That notebook had a lot of writing in it that was important to me, and I still get upset about it's loss. So I may end up having to make up a lot of the story without my notes (although, I guess technically, I already made it up in my dream, so who cares, right?) It's a post apocalyptic, war, romance, time-travel kind of thing. Hope it turns out.

If you ever wanted to try to write a novel. Now's your chance!
Here's my profile at the official NaNoWriMo site, if you want to learn more about this whole crazy idea:
Karabu Writes a Novel

Benicia Knitting Circle

Just a little plug for this knitting store that I didn't know existed a few days ago.

Benicia Knitting Circle

I went there to look for a gift for my knitting sister (I don't knit, but I crochet a little and I love pretty yarn.) First I love that there is such a thing as a knitting store. I'm not sure what it is about small, highly specialized shops that I love, but I find them so fascinating. I guess maybe because they represent a deep passion on the part of the proprietor, and enough other people to keep the place in business.

I got a little glimpse of those folks while I was shopping. A group of knitters were all working on their projects and a knitting debate started up over a confusing line of instructions in a pattern. You can learn so much more, and see the depth of a craft from listening to the debates of serious practitioners that you just won't ever find browsing in a big general craft shop.

While I have no great desire to learn to knit, if I did, this shop could be a very addictive place for me. If you love knitting, or crochet, or yarn, or specialty craft shops, stop by. They have dogs hanging out there too, and there is always a special place in my heart for shops with cats or dogs in residence. Ya gotta love that.

Easy to Make Baby Shoes that are Cute too!

I wanted to write this blog a long time ago, but I never got around to taking pictures of the shoes I made. Now that my daughter has outgrown them, I can't find what I did with them. So still no pictures to share.

Ah well. I loved making them so much, and they were so nice to have, I'm going to blog about this free soft baby shoe pattern anyway.

The baby shoe pattern was created by Stardust Shoes, and they are both darling, and simple to sew. Even if you're a beginning sewer, you can make these shoes.

Now I didn't exactly follow the directions (I'm not normally a troublemaker, but I am lazy, and I don't do things that I can get away with not doing). Also, I was not trying to make shoes that would last. I knew my daughter wouldn't be wearing the shoes I made for very long, so I didn't worry about cutting corners a little. While the shoes I made turned out very nice, and actually held up very well, if you plan to put them to serious use, or want them to last awhile, I recommend following the pattern's directions more closely.

I didn't use the bonded fleece for the sole; I just used canvas for the whole outside of one pair, and vinyl for another pair. I lined both pairs of baby shoes with flannel, and didn't bother with any interfacing since both the fabrics I was using were fairly thick. I liked how the fleece made the insides soft and cozy. The vinyl pair of baby shoes was cute, but probably wouldn't have been a good choice for a baby that was beginning to walk, as I think they may have been a little slick on the bottoms.

Soft baby shoes were much easier to make than I thought they would be. If you've ever been tempted to try it, download the free baby shoe pattern and give it a try. If you like the look of these dhows, but don't want to make your own, I know several great EtsyKids sellers have some really adorable baby shoes in their Etsy Shops.

Tiny Turtle Crochet and Raverly

My sister recently introduced me to Raverly. It's a social networking site for knitters and crocheters. My sister knits, and I crochet. Well, I used to, but it's one of my hobbies that has been far on the back burners in the past few years.

Then I went to a amigurumi workshop and it was so much easier and more fun than I expected, I've been sneaking little bits of crochet into my life again. My first completed project is Ted the Turtle. It's a free crochet pattern I found on Raverly, by KristiKids.

I thought my kids would like the little turtle more than they did, but he was still fun to make. The baby likes him the most, but I only let her play with him while I'm watching because I don't think I put his eyes on very strong. I'll probably sew on yarn eyes on future projects.

I know I'll never list my crochet projects in my Etsy shop, but it's almost neater to keep this as just a hobby I do for me. No pressure to make anything at any special time. Not that I really pressure myself much for my Etsy shop either, as you can probably tell by how infrequently I list new stuff.

In that same line of thinking, I have a cool idea for a wall quilt I want to make for my daughter. If it turns out like the picture in my head, I'll try to make a pattern and post it here. I'll have to practice foundation paper piecing, something I haven't done much of, but that's another reason it'll be fun.

I think that's a big reason the crochet projects have been such hoot. It's learning something new, a little bit of a challenge, but not an overwhelming one. Plus I love amigurui. I see cute ones on Etsy all the time, and want to buy them, but then see that they're only patterns, not finished dolls. I passed them by because I didn't think I was a skilled enough crocheter to pull the patterns off. Now I'm a little more confident, and may give some a try.

If you like to knit or crochet though, you should definitely give Raverly a look. They have a ton of patterns listed, many, like the tiny crochet turtle, are even offered for free. Heck, even if you've just wanted to try knitting or crochet one day, go for it right now! Learning a new craft is always a good idea!

At Last - I'm Having a Sale!

So - I almost never have sales or discounts. My profit margin is low, and I never know what kind of offer would make sense, so I don't bother. But for the past several months I've wanted to do one. I have so many wonderful customers, and I want to do something. Plus I have a bunch of pretty new fabric, and I want to make new stuff, but I hate doing that when I still have so much already listed.

So I gave it some serious thought. I can't ever have a store wide sale because I list stuff for my mom too. I can't make her accept less money for what she makes, that isn't nice (plus, I don't think she charges enough to begin with for her wonderful work.) So what to do? What I want the most is to make some new books with new pictures. So that means clearing out some of the books that are listed now.

So here's the sale:

All Pre-made Soft Fabric Books Only $15.00 Until the End of August!

I'm off right now to change the price in all my soft fabric book listings from the regular $18.00 to $15.00 so there will be no need for anyone to go through the hassle of waiting for an updated invoice or anything confusing like that. Even if I get a few new books posted, they will still be included in the sale price.

Thanks everyone!
Here they are: Karabu's Soft Fabric Books for Babies and Toddlers
Yea for sales!

Why It's Important to Prewash Fabric

Especially for Projects for Kids and For Quilts.

I use 100% cotton fabric for almost all my sewing. I just really like it. Occasionally I'll use a blend or another kind of fabric if it's something sentimental for personal use. Some fabric requires special care, or dry cleaning. I'm not talking about those fabrics in this post - I just don't know enough about them. But cotton fabrics, quilting fabrics, cute novelty prints, etc all should be washed first, and here's why:

There's lots of tips out there for quilters about the importance of pre-washing fabrics. Different fabrics may shrink at different rates, even if they're all 100% cotton. If you want your quilt that you've spent hours and weeks and months making to hold up over time, you don't want different parts to shrink and other parts not to, thus pulling or distorting the quit, even tearing it in extreme cases.

While this is an excellent reason to pre-wash all your fabrics, it isn't the most important reason, in my opinion.

When fabrics are made, all kinds of chemicals are used during production, and dying. The chemicals treat the fabrics, and help the colors stay true, and generally assist in production at many stages. However, those chemicals are still there when the finished bolt goes out to stores. The most famous of these is formaldehyde, but other chemicals are used too.

There is no way I want to snuggle under a quilt full of formaldehyde and other chemicals. And there is sure as heck no way I'm letting my child snuggle under that quilt or play with a toy that hasn't had the chemicals washed out of it.

While it may sound too easy that all you have to do to get rid of these horrible chemicals is throw the fabric in the wash, that's really all the experts say you need to do. In all my research, every authority and expert I've found says that as bad as these substances are, washing gets rid of them. It's that simple.

So while it may be a bit time consuming, and, yes, it may require a little bit of pressing if the fabric wrinkles, it's just too important a step to skip. If you are making something that a baby may possibly put in their mouth, (like everything I make) please, PLEASE, PLEASE pre-wash your fabrics.

Etsy For Animals Round Robin Quilt Project

Etsy for Animals is working on another great fund raiser. Members (including yours truly) are sewing quilt squares that will be assembled into a finished quilt and auctioned off.

Etsy for animals is a group of Etsy sellers who are passionate about helping animals. We donate a percentage of our Etsy Sales to animal charities, and find lots of other ways to help animal organizations. There's even a special Etsy for Animals Shop that sells items donated by artists and crafters, with the profits going to charity. The group was created by Michele (mvegan5), and the huge task of organizing the quilt round robin project is being tackled by Jonny of dogonwear.

Free to Good Home - Mini Soft Fabric Colors Book

While making some new Mini Soft Fabric Books for my Etsy Shop I made an "oops". While trimming a thread, I accidentally cut into the blue page of an almost done mini colors book. While it wouldn't have been impossible to take the book apart and replace the blue page with a new one, it would have been a lot more work and headache than to just make a new book from scratch. I decided I didn't want to remake the whole book.

The same page also got a snag on the fabric somewhere alone the way that left a tiny pin point hole when trimmed up.

I did sew the approximately 1/4 inch cut closed by hand, but didn't do anything to the snag hole - the needle would leave more holes than the original snag, so it seemed silly to stitch it. This photo points out the flaws:

The little fabric colors book isn't up to my standards enough to sell in my shop. The rest of the book is in great shape, and I hope someone out there will be interested in having it, even if it has a little 'oops' factor. I'm offering it to the first person to request it. I'll pay shipping - even international. I don't recommend anyone leaving personal information, like an address, in the comments section here, so I ask that you send your request to me privately by clicking "contact this seller" in my Karabu Patchwork Creations Etsy Shop.

Hopefully this little book can find a loving home.

My kids (who normally get my 'oops' projects) already have a mini fabric colors book. I haven't done a giveaway for awhile now, so I think my mistake was really a reminder that it's time to have one!